Yotel: Luxury Accommodations on a Budget

A popular UK budget hotel chain is set to burst onto the U.S. scene as it unveils its first American-based property in New York later this year. If you never heard tell of Yotel, you will soon.

Yotel Times Square. Image courtesy of Top Box Design

Yotel’s new Yotel Times Square hotel, located at 42nd Street and 10th Avenue, will open its doors for the first time on June 1st.

The 669 cabin ‘pod’ hotel offers something quite different from typical hotels in New York – luxury hotel rooms on a budget. Inspired by first class aircraft cabins, the hotel says that it will be one of the first in the city to offer affordable luxury in a compact room.

Similar to the ‘pod’ hotels seen in Japan, each cabin at the Yotel will feature moveable beds that can be folded up to save on space, while each room also contains a ‘technowall’, basically combining a TV, music player and power plugs on one compact wall panel.

Yotel room. Image courtesy of images.smh.com.au

Co-designed by Softroom and the Rockwell Group, the flagship Yotel takes its aircraft-theme to the limit, with even the check-in desk appearing as an airport check in kiosk. Alternatively, for those who want a faster service, they even provide ATM-like automated check-in machines.

Meanwhile, the world’s first specially-designed luggage robot, the ‘Yobot’, will be on hand to carry your bags to your pod.

Yotel Check-in machine. Image courtesy of images.smh.com.au

Yotel Times Square will also offer a number of amenities, including two bars, a nightclub lounge, an outdoor sitting area, a Japanese restaurant and even a pagoda with a fireplace.

Yotel currently operate similar properties at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, as well as two in London, at Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

Comments

The big advantage here is that actually it´s impossible to find a hotel room in NYC with that low rates, after checking them on their website, therefore I think this kind of hotel concept seems to be accepted soon by travelers who are looking for cheap rates in NYC, exactly that what Yotel offers. Chris NewYorkCitty.com – Guide to New York City